1. Mendez v. Westminster

2. Before brown v. board of education
School Finance based on Whites Only
1895
Plessy v. Ferguson
1896
“separate but equal”
First laws prohibiting Mexican immigration
1924
Internment Camps Begin
1942
Mendez v. Westminster
1946
Brown v. Topeka Board of Education
1954

3. Signs of the time
This was a common sign to see at the same time that civil rights were being fought for by Black Americans in the United States.
At this time “Mexican” students and other would become sick with tuberculosis and other infections and this was attributed to the fact that “Mexicans” were just more susceptible to illness.

4. “Mexican” schools & Life
Schools Subjects
Girls were taught how to sew
Boys were taught to garden and work with wood.
Public Places
Served last in restaurants
Were only allowed to swim one day a week in public pools – drained the next day.

5. Mendez family Parents Had 3 children Both U.S. Citizens Gonzalo Mendez
Mexican
Felicitas Mendez
Puerto Rican
Had 3 children
Silvia
Gonzalo Jr.
Jerome

6. Case history
Mendez family was asked to look after the asparagus farm for a Japanese family that was being sent to internment camps.
Mendez family was told their children had to go to Hoover Elementary and NOT Westminster
Principal, Superintendent and Board of Education denied their appeals.
Education Code of the Time
“The governing board of any school district may establish separate schools for Indian children, excepting children of Indians who are wards of the United States Government and children of all other Indians who are descendants of the original American Indians of the United States, and for children of Chinese, Japanese, or Mongolian parentage”

7. Why didn’t it apply to the whole u.s.?
It was brought before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and NOT the Supreme Court of the United States

8. Brown v. board of education
“Any language in Plessy v. Ferguson contrary to this finding is rejected. We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.”

9. Silvia Mendez
The daughter of Gonzalo Mendez and Felicitas Mendez received the 2011 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

10. Education code in the news
Arizona 2011 Changes
What does this change?
A SCHOOL DISTRICT OR CHARTER SCHOOL IN THIS STATE SHALL NOT INCLUDE IN ITS PROGRAM OF INSTRUCTION ANY COURSES OR CLASSES THAT INCLUDE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:
PROMOTE THE OVERTHROW OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
PROMOTE RESENTMENT TOWARD A RACE OR CLASS OF PEOPLE.
ARE DESIGNED PRIMARILY FOR PUPILS OF A PARTICULAR ETHNIC GROUP.
ADVOCATE ETHNIC SOLIDARITY INSTEAD OF THE TREATMENT OF PUPILS AS INDIVIDUALS.
Under this law some schools had to stop teaching Mexican American Studies courses and other courses specific to one race of people.
What do you think about these changes?